Prohibitory orders in Talcher coalfield

Following a group clash on Friday that led to torching of about 40 vehicles at Jagannath colliery of Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd (MCL) and left many injured, the police imposed Section 144 at Talcher town and railways sidings of coal mines.

Local member of legislative Assembly (MLA) Braja Kishor Pradhan, who was spearheading the protest by a group of labourers against the "highhandedness" of a contractor of the mine leading to the clash, has been arrested for violence.

Narasimha Bhol, superintendent of police, Angul, said, "We have information that his supporters would try to spread violence by destroying public and private properties. Last night, some of them tried to torch the conveyor belt of a mine connected to Nalco (National Aluminium Company) smelting plant at Angul."

Talcher is the key coal producing region of the state and is home to the biggest coalfield in India, with 35 billion tonnes of deposits. Spread over 500 sq km, the region sends nearly 100,000 tonnes of coal to Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and other states.

Two power plants of National Thermal Power Corporation located at Talcher are mainly dependent on MCL coal. In the absence of coal supply, the power company is now producing only 1,100 Mw power, almost a third of the 3,000 Mw produced earlier.

The district administration said it was taking all steps to ensure normalcy and bring back production levels at the power plants.

Meanwhile, the incident at the mining town has snowballed into a political war, with parties blaming each other for the incident. The hunger strike by the arrested MLA made it worse.

The Congress said it was incorrect to arrest a leader who was trying to raise the voice of local people.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said the incident took place because of gang war between individuals supported by ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and Congress.

The operation at the sidings stopped over a month- and-a-half ago after locals protested the contractor's move to engage his own workers, at the cost of traditional labourers. The villagers have been protesting since then.

During the Friday clash, the angry workers and villagers forcibly shut mines, burnt 35 bikes and four multi-utility vehicles before ransacking offices at the mining sites, after an alleged attack on Pradhan, who was leading the protest rally,

After the MLA was arrested on Saturday from Bhubaneswar, the Talcher district administration has deployed 19 platoons of police to prevent further escalation of violence.

BJD said though it was not proper to arrest an MLA when the assembly was in session, the party would comment only after verifying the facts.